Due to the US blockade of Cuba, Google has closed the YouTube channel of the Granma newspaper, Granma reports , thus outscooping Google News, which has no mention at all of the story.
Granma says it has lost its newspaper account on that platform on August 20, which included the disappearance of its YouTube channel, Google Analytics and Google Play.
The reason given is that apparently Granma violates the export laws of the United States.
In the words of the administrators of Google, breaking these rules means that: “(…) your application may be subject to the export laws of the USA, which include a maze of rules about software that uses encryption (among other things), whether you are inside the US or not.”
“Google Inc. is a US company, and the US government considers it to be an export when a person downloads software from our servers outside of that country. In accordance with the export laws of the USA, transfers of apps from Google Play to embargoed countries may be prohibited. Consequently, Google blocks downloads in these countries.”
Coincidentally, these events occurred on the same day and for the same reason against other important Cuban communication channels that claim to have content of high political and social value that often unmasks the media attacks against Cuba.
The Granma Digital channel contained an extensive collection of videos that included special programs of international analysis such as Between Lines, to thematic productions such as the series on the new Constitution of the Republic or a more recent one on COVID-19 and its impacts on Cuba.
Blockages of Cuban media social networks occur frequently, especially on Twitter, where in 2019 the accounts of Granma (now restored), the Roundtable, Cubadebate and the ujc were blocked. Recently, that of Juventud Rebelde was blocked.
Granma states: ” When we open a new channel for Granma on YouTube and replenish the main content, you will be able to see all the live broadcasts and other materials on the newspaper pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where our accounts are already recognized with the blue mark that informs users that these are official and reliable channels.
[Parts of this article were translated from Spanish by Google Translate, edited by Jonathan Mason.]
